There Comes A Time
by RizGriz
Summary: Scars and injury are nothing new to Steve, but no one thinks he has them. Except a nurse that has been there for him since he woke from the ice. R&R!


_"There comes a time, we know not when, that marks the destiny of men." - Joseph Addison Alexander_

Peggy knew there was more to him then met the eye. To many he was pinup boy who fought bravely and came out of every battle without a scratch.

That just isn't the truth. He got hurt, and had scars that didn't fade throughout his long sleep. Peggy and Bucky had both seen his worst 'marks' of battle.

James once even had to pull a bullet out of him. Bucky looked as though he wanted to throw up the whole time, even though _Steve_ was holding his cool as much as possible.

People always thought he was being old fashioned when he wore undershirts and bathed alone. Truthfully, he was ensuring that nobody saw any dark marks through his shirt, and after every bath he covered the marks on his arms and collar with a thing called *Veil Cover Cream. He was also covering his dog tag tattoo. It was something he proud of, his tattoo. Him and Buck got somewhat matching tattoos that were mirror images of the dog tags that they wore daily, but lost regularly. Steve would hate for the other Avengers to know about his mangled body. There had been some nurses, who had cared for him since waking from the ice, which said there were new treatments to 'help reduce the appearance of scars and other skin deformities.'

Although all that seemed great, Steve was too busy helping Bucky regain his memories through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rehabilitation programs, but Steve didn't _really_ want them gone. They all had a story to tell and he was the only one who knew most of them.

But that didn't stop the nurses from fretting whenever he got hurt. Although it felt good to have so many people care when he was in pain, they always kept him for him for days when it was truly bad.

The Avengers were nice to be around and talk to, but this one nurse, her name was Ophelia, that took special care with him. She loved to talk about the history of the era for hours with him when Steve got laid up in a hospital.

Ophelia had learned a great deal about him from friends of her grandparents as a child. From them she had learned of when he taken several children out of a barn somewhere in France and made the Commandos feed them. The lady had said that she never forgot the humbleness that Steven had shown, and she hadn't even known it was Captain America.

However, Ophelia's grandparents were nowhere near The War, but instead were living in Mexico. Because of this, Ophelia had a lightly darker complexion, dark hair with tight curls, and beautiful black eyes that shined when the light hit them just right. Steve and Ophelia were dating, though no one but James and Fury knew, and she understood that there were things that Steve just wasn't ready to tell anybody. She respected the fact that he had been to war and that he had been changed. She too had been trained by S.H.I.E.L.D., but never went to combat.

At the moment, she was by his side as he was being taken through the halls of the hospital that had been S.H.I.E.L.D. approved.

The Avengers had been on a 'practice' mission when Steve got hit by a piece of stray shrapnel. After that he was rushed into the hospital to the waiting staff of expectant nurses that were the only ones allowed to handle him.

The other, uninjured, Avengers followed behind, and watched as Steve slowly lost reality of where he was. Ophelia held his hand as they walked into the OR.

Steve had begun babbling aimlessly as he slipped into a state of glazed eyes and muffled hearing. One nurse stood on each side of the table, and made their presence known to Steve. Stumbling around with no idea of what to do, Avengers, and even Fury himself didn't fully understand why they did this, and tried to grill them before another ushered them to the corner saying that if they wanted to stay then they had to 'shut it up now.' Hastily, the blood drenched uniform was cut from his body and both the shrapnel and scar from past wounds were shown. Tony found it difficult to watch as the piece of steel pulled from the moaning man. The nurse on each side kept him from lashing out in white hot pain, and it soon became obvious to the onlookers that Steve refused to hurt anyone in anyway while on the table.

Before long, Steve was stitched up and was being moved to a recovery room with an IV that had three bags attached to it. Only one nurse was allowed to be with him in the recovery room. However, after a few hours, the others were allowed into the dimmed room.

When they entered, the nurse that had been with Steve now lied down on his left side curled around a very asleep Steven. Fury had since told them that 'Captain Rogers has acquired a female relationship.'

After a few days he came home and was mostly quiet. However, everyone was shocked when the nurse named Ophelia had come to check his wound. When the others saw his scars far more clearly then when he was being operated on, they were shocked to say the least.

Jagged lines that had no fade ran at crooked angles across much of his abdomen. They took on many different colors. Some red, others pink, and still others had purple.

Tony had to leave…

A week later was Veteran's Day, so Tony decided to Green Light a Veteran, his friend, Steve. So he put up one light bulb for Steve, one for Bucky, one for Sam, and one for Rhodey. That day Tony got a small piece of parchment with a note from Steve in his curvy cursive.

All it said was ' _Thank You._ '

*real thing.

This is for Veteran's Day. I used the Green Light A Vet in this story. Also, I might continue this as a Steve/OC.


End file.
